Home World Man who attacked author Salman Rushdie is sentenced to 25 years in...

Man who attacked author Salman Rushdie is sentenced to 25 years in prison

Novelist Salman Rushdie promotes the German-language edition of his book Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder in Berlin on May 16, 2024. In the book, Rushdie confronts the 2022 attack that left him blind in one eye.

Novelist Salman Rushdie promotes the German-language edition of his book Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder in Berlin on May 16, 2024. In the book, Rushdie confronts the 2022 attack that left him blind in one eye. Sean Gallup/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Hadi Matar, the man who severely injured novelist Salman Rushdie in a 2022 stabbing attack, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison — the maximum for attempted murder.

Matar, 27, was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder in February for his attack on the author at the nonprofit Chautauqua Institution in New York state in August 2022. A knife-wielding Matar leapt onto the stage where Rushdie was about to give a lecture, stabbing the author multiple times in the face, neck, arm, abdomen and eye.

The assault left Rushdie, now 77, partially blind and with permanent nerve damage. The author did not return to the Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., for the sentencing, but did submit a victim impact statement.

Sponsor Message

Judge David Foley also sentenced Matar to 7 years, to be served concurrently, for injuring the moderator who tried to stop the attack.

Hadi Matar (right) and public defender Nathaniel Barone listen to Chautauqua County Judge David Foley's sentence in Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., on Friday.

Hadi Matar (right) and public defender Nathaniel Barone listen to Chautauqua County Judge David Foley’s sentence in Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., on Friday. Adrian Kraus/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Adrian Kraus/AP

Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, sparked angry protests in the Muslim world over its controversial depiction of the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Months before his death in 1989, Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a religious fatwa calling for Rushdie’s murder.

At trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York alleged Matar was acting on the fatwa. Matar, who lived in Fairview, N.J., at the time of the attack, has not cited the religious decree as motivation, but has said he disliked Rushdie, telling the New York Post in a jailhouse interview that the author had attacked Islam. In the same interview, Matar admitted that he had read only about two pages of The Satanic Verses.

Rushdie himself testified at the February trial, telling the jury that the assailant struck him repeatedly. The novelist described being taken by surprise in the attack and then suddenly becoming aware of “a very large quantity of blood pouring out onto my clothes.”

Matar’s defense team argued that it wasn’t an open-and-shut case. “Something very bad did happen,” attorney Lynn Schaffer acknowledged at the trial, adding that the prosecution was required “to prove much more than that.”

Sponsor Message

Matar also faces federal terrorism charges

Matar faces a separate trial on federal charges of terrorism in connection with the attack on Rushdie.

When the charges were filed last July, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said Matar “attempted to carry out a fatwa endorsed by [Hezbollah] that called for the death of Salman Rushdie — a fatwa issued in 1989 by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.” If convicted on the federal charges — which include providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill a U.S. citizen — Matar faces life in prison. A trial date hasn’t been set.

The award-winning Rushdie, who is an Indian-born British-American citizen, has written numerous books. Besides The Satanic Verses, he is also author of Midnight’s Children, set in postcolonial India, and Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, a memoir about the attack that was published last year.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Must Read

Greetings from the Negev desert, where traces remain of a vanished ancient civilization

Emily Feng/NPR Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world. More than 1,500 years ago, an ancient Arab people built a Christian church in the Negev desert. Earlier this month, I got to see what remains of it when I was invited

Are you a new grandparent? NPR wants to hear from you for National Grandparent’s Day

Eileen and Doug Flockhart look at a chalkboard announcing the birth of their seventh grandchild on the porch of their home in Exeter, N.H., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. Elise Amendola/AP hide caption toggle caption Elise Amendola/AP Mothers and fathers have had their days. On Sep. 7, it's the grandma and grandpa's turn. In 1978, President

U.S. tariffs take effect on India, threatening $48.2B in exports

Workers at a manufacturing unit make leather footwear in Agra, India, on Monday. Manish Swarup/AP hide caption toggle caption Manish Swarup/AP NEW DELHI — Steep U.S. tariffs on a range of Indian products took effect Wednesday, threatening a steep blow to India's overseas trade in its largest export market. World, reordering India reels from Trump

If Abrego Garcia is deported to Uganda, here’s how it might happen

A member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus holds a picture of Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a news conference to discuss his arrest and deportation on April 9 in Washington, D.C. The Trump administration wants to deport him to Uganda. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Alex Wong/Getty Images The Trump administration says it intends

Protesters occupy Microsoft office as company reviews its work with Israel’s military

A Microsoft sign and logo are pictured at the company's headquarters, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Wash. Jason Redmond/FR74394 AP hide caption toggle caption Jason Redmond/FR74394 AP REDMOND, Wash. — Police arrested seven people Tuesday after they occupied the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith as part of continued protests over the company's ties